Putting a price on sustainability

One of the principal barriers to the wider adoption of more sustainable design and construction solutions is the perception that these incur substantial additional costs. A costing analysis, using real cost data for a broad range of sustainability technologies and design solutions, contradicts this assumption and demonstrates that significant improvements in environmental performance can be achieved at very little additional cost. Sustainable buildings can also offer major cost savings when in use.

The costs of achieving different levels of environmental performance, as defined by the BREEAM and EcoHomes schemes, were investigated for four different types of building:
- a house
- a naturally ventilated office
- an air-conditioned office, and
- a PFI healthcare centre.

As many BREEAM credits relate to the location of the site, different location scenarios were also assessed.

One of the principal barriers to the wider adoption of more sustainable design and construction solutions is the perception that these incur substantial additional costs. A costing analysis, using real cost data for a broad range of sustainability technologies and design solutions, contradicts this assumption and demonstrates that significant improvements in environmental performance can be achieved at very little additional cost. Sustainable buildings ...